Do Not Give Michael Crichton a Bad Review January 11, 2007

According to The New Republic editor Michael Crowley, in the novel State of Fear, “[Michael Crichton] creates one character, a pompous bleeding heart clearly modeled after Martin Sheen, and then feeds him to cannibals.” When Crowley wrote this passage, part of an essay criticizing Crichton for presenting global warming as a conspiratorial hoax (shorter, freer version here), he didn’t know how lucky Mr. Sheen was. Crowley, a Yale grad and Washington political journalist, reports that Crichton’s newest novel, Next, contains a character named “Mick Crowley,” a “Yale graduate” and “Washington-based political columnist” charged with “the sexual assault of a two-year-old boy.” And, oh yeah, the fictional Crowley’s “penis was small.” Crowley (the real one) says he’s actually somewhat flattered by the hat tip…